Valuation is the first step to making unpaid care work visible

Unpaid work by women ranges from economic sectors like agriculture or family-run small businesses in the informal sector to domestic work — household work and care work — both for families and communities. 

Of all these, unpaid care work receives the most marginal treatment simply because so much of the work performed is invisible in terms of market criteria, or even in terms of socially dominant perceptions of what constitutes work. 

The absence of this work in public policy discussions, as well as the fact that little is done to recognise these activities as having value as work itself, has two consequences: it leads to the social underestimation of women's productive contribution; and as a result, inadequate attention is devoted to the conditions of women's work and their implications for the general material conditions and wellbeing of women. 

Despite its considerable economic value, unpaid care work is not included in labour force surveys. Nor is it brought into the calculation of a country's GDP. It is therefore not reflected in economic indicators that inform policy making. 

In addition, cultural assumptions about, for example, unpaid care work as women's work and the inability to easily identify and quantify care workers' services, lead to the devaluation of unpaid work in the labour force. 

Unpaid domestic work is thus usually unmeasured, unvalued, and unseen in most economic policy studies. Family care work receives even less attention in economic policy and planning. 

However, unpaid household work and output are critical to the well-being of our economy and human development.  

A starting point for estimating the value of unpaid care work could emerge by asking what it would cost to purchase a comparable substitute for it, with the recognition that even those who do provide these services for a wage do so under very diminished and low remunerative circumstances. 

There are two approaches for imputing a monetary value to unpaid work: the opportunity-cost approach and the replacement-cost approach.

The opportunity-cost approach values the work at the market wage of the household member performing the task, with the underlying assumption that the household member has foregone earnings for home production. But this approach may overstate values, since much routine housework does not demand high skills, for example by applying a high-skill worker wage to value the time spent on a low-skilled activity.  

The second one is the replacement-cost approach, which considers what it would cost to hire a professional to perform the activity. However, using a specialist's wage for each household task, for instance, a plumber's wage to fix a leak, overestimates the value of the input since specialists work more efficiently and need less time to perform the same task.  

Surveys can be used to precisely record how people allocate their time over different activities, typically using a 24-hour diary. How much house and care work families and households provide can be quantified using the metric of time and data from time-use surveys. 

Once that is done, either the opportunity cost approach or the replacement cost approach may be used to impute a monetary value for unpaid domestic work. 

An economic model that combines unpaid care work and labour market participation of women within an input-output framework can be used to allow the valuation of unpaid activities. The input method measures the burden, while the output method measures the values of the goods produced. 

Under the satellite accounts framework, two approaches may be pursued: inclusion of unpaid care work not already included with other such activities already in the GDP; or calculation or estimation of the value of production excluded from the GDP calculations. 

In recent times, a new conceptual framework has been adopted, which encompasses all modalities of work in a manner that goes well beyond the System of National Accountants' production boundary. 

One major obstacle women face in joining the workforce is the unequal share of unpaid domestic work they take on. Women often have significantly less leisure time than men, as they are primarily responsible for housework and care duties. This burden can make it challenging to balance household responsibilities with regular employment.

As a result, women often face two limited choices. The first is staying out of the workforce to focus on unpaid domestic work. This decision means missing out on career opportunities and the chance to gain skills that can help improve their economic independence. This independence is especially important for protecting themselves and their children from psychological abuse or gender-based violence.

Alternatively, taking on domestic care has important benefits for family development. It strengthens family bonds, supports the well-being of the elderly, and offers proven advantages for early childhood development. 

Especially the mother's physical presence for breastfeeding and bonding during the first months of her child's life is crucial for her baby's health. It has also been found that personalised care during the first 15 months has positive effects on children's educational performance. 

On the contrary, parents' work-related stress adversely affects their children's physical and mental development. All of these aspects are vital for the human development of future generations. 

In addition to unpaid domestic work, women could choose to do volunteer or creative work, which also provides possibilities for capability expansion and self-realisation. It would, however, not solve the problem of economic dependence and possible abusive relationships. 

Therefore, women who remain outside the labour force most probably contribute to enhancing the human development of their families, but they do so at the cost of their capability expansion, independence, and human development.

Second, women participate in the labour force pursuing paid employment and outsourcing or sharing domestic and care work. 

In the case of domestic work, this is probably the human development-friendliest solution. Women can have both, they pursue capability-expanding activities at their workplace maintaining their independence, and they either share domestic chores equally with their partners or outsource them to paid domestic workers. 

For care work, the effects of outsourcing are more ambiguous, especially because of the crucial role breastfeeding takes in the physical and mental development of children. 

Moreover, as stated above, especially in early childhood the care of a non-family member is not the same as the parents' care. 

However, an educated and professionally active mother can be inspiring and intellectually stimulating for their children, while constituting an empowered role model for their daughters.
 

Dr Selim Jahan is the Former Director of the Human Development Report Office and Poverty Division at the United Nations Development Programme, New York, US.